Australian shares to rise after Wall Street rally

The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open sharply higher after Wall Street rallied following lower-than-expected December inflation and solid earnings from major US banks.

The numbers: Updated at 7:25am AEDT:

• ASX futures: up 122 points or 1.49% at 8,322 points
• Wall Street: Dow Jones up 1.87%, S&P 500 up 1.93%, Nasdaq up 2.48%
• Europe: FTSE 100 up 1.21%, CAC 40 up 0.69%, DAX up 1.50%
• Spot gold: up 0.67% to USD2,695.50 per ounce
• Oil prices: Brent up 3.15% to USD82.44/barrel, US WTI up 3.91% to USD80.53/bbl
• AUD: up 0.57% at 62.31 US cents
• Bitcoin: up 3.74% to USD100,173.80

The context: US stocks surged overnight, with all three major indices on track for their biggest daily percentage gains in more than two months. That came after Labor Department data showed the US consumer price index (CPI) increased the most in nine months as energy costs rose, although a measure of underlying inflation pressures subsided, raising expectations for more Fed rate cuts this year.

Also providing support were earnings from large banks, with JPMorgan reporting a record annual profit, Wells Fargo’s fourth-quarter profit beating expectations, Goldman Sachs reporting its best quarterly profit since the third quarter of 2021 and Citigroup swinging to a profit in the fourth quarter.